


Rumor Has It

by sunflowerseedsandscience



Series: Early On [4]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: Episode: s01e03 Squeeze, Episode: s01e04 Conduit, Episode: s01e05 The Jersey Devil, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-03
Updated: 2016-10-03
Packaged: 2018-08-19 10:07:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8201281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunflowerseedsandscience/pseuds/sunflowerseedsandscience
Summary: When Mulder finally meets Ethan Minette, it is not under the most ideal of circumstances.It's bad enough that the introduction is completely unplanned, worse still that it takes place in Scully's apartment.  The fact that the place is crawling with police doesn't help matters much.But really, the icing on the cake is Ethan's finding them in Scully's otherwise-empty bedroom with their arms around each other.





	

When Mulder finally meets Ethan Minette, it is not under the most ideal of circumstances.

It's bad enough that the introduction is completely unplanned, worse still that it takes place in Scully's apartment. The fact that the place is crawling with police doesn't help matters much.

But really, the icing on the cake is Ethan's finding them in Scully's otherwise-empty bedroom with their arms around each other. 

"Dana, what the hell?" demands Ethan, standing flabbergasted in the bedroom doorway. Scully jumps back, away from Mulder, her face bright red, and Mulder can feel a guilty flush creeping over his own cheeks. 

It had been an innocent enough thing to do, reaching out and offering a comforting embrace to his partner, who had just had her home broken into and her life threatened by a liver-eating mutant. Yes, it's true that Scully hadn't looked as though she needed any comfort- in fact, she had barely seemed fazed at all- but that's beside the point. What if Mulder had needed it? A few minutes later, and he might have arrived to a very different scene. Isn't he within his rights to be a little freaked out?

And it's also true that they had remained in each other's arms for several minutes, but so what? Mulder hasn't laid a hand on her since that night in Oregon, weeks ago, and it feels good to have her pressed close again. Platonically, of course. Purely for comfort.

Never mind the bulge in his slacks that he knows she can't have missed. Doesn't mean anything. It's just a natural response to stimulation, and it's thankfully hidden by his trench coat. Ethan never needs to know... which is good, because Scully's boyfriend is already looking angry enough.

"What's going on?" he demands now, still frozen in the doorway. "The place is full of cops! What's happened?"

"The suspect we've been tailing broke in and attacked me," says Scully. Ethan pales, and drops his defensive posture immediately. He crosses the room to her, completely ignoring Mulder.

"Oh my God, Dana, are you okay?" He attempts to put his arms around her, but she's apparently gotten whatever comfort she needs from Mulder. He tries not to smirk as Scully puts an arm out, keeping Ethan at bay.

"I'm fine," she says. "Mulder got here just in time, and we detained the suspect until the police arrived. He's on his way to the station by now." Ethan's gaze finally flickers to Mulder, who holds out his hand.

"Fox Mulder," he says. "Scully's new partner." Ethan takes his hand, some of his animosity diminishing.

"Ethan Minette," he says. "Dana's told me a lot about you." He lets go of Mulder's hand and runs his fingers distractedly through his hair. "I guess it's good you got here when you did."

"Scully was doing fine before I showed up," says Mulder, grinning at her. "She had him handcuffed to your bathroom pipes almost before I knew what was going on." Ethan's faces pales even further, and Scully glares at Mulder.

"That's a bit of an exaggeration," she says. She turns back to Ethan. "Listen, Mulder and I are going to need to go down to the station, okay? We're going to want to interview the guy, and there are some... special circumstances... that we'll need to see to, to make sure he's locked up the way he needs to be." Ethan nods.

"Do you want me to drive you?"

"No, I'll ride with Mulder," she says. "I'll be home in a few hours, okay?" Ethan nods, and Mulder leaves the room so they can say their farewells in private. As he passes, he catches sight of Ethan's face. It's subtle, the set of his jaw, and Mulder probably wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't been looking for it.

Scully's going to have one hell of a conversation in her future. He doesn't envy her at all.

 

\-----------

 

On the day the Ruby Morris case is finally closed, Scully's got a pounding headache by the time she leaves work, her mind full of the sound of Mulder's voice on the tape of his hypnosis session. She arrives home to a note from Ethan, saying he's going out for drinks with the guys, and that he'll be home by ten at the latest. She heats up some leftovers for dinner, eats alone in front of the TV, and indulges in a long, hot bath. It's not easy, but she manages to force herself to relax and _not_ glance up at the heating register every thirty seconds.

Putting the pain she heard in Mulder's voice on those tapes is far more difficult.

By the time Ethan comes home, she's reclining on the couch with a bowl of ice cream and a book. She smiles up at him. "Did you have fun?" she asks, as he leans down to give her a perfunctory kiss. 

"I did."

"Who all went?"

"Jason and Steve from the office... and Tom met us there." Scully's breath catches.

"Tom Colton?" Colton and Ethan had met and hit it off while Scully had been at the Academy, and they had stayed in touch. They met for occasional drinks and basketball games... but they haven't gotten together in awhile, to the best of Scully's knowledge, and the timing seems more than a little suspicious.

"Yup, Tom Colton," says Ethan, sinking down onto the couch across from her. "He called me earlier today and said he wanted to grab a beer." Ignoring his pointed look, Scully returns to her book.

"Well, I'm glad you had a good time," she says. Ethan keeps looking at her, but Scully says nothing, waiting for him to say whatever's on his mind.

"Tom had some interesting things to say," he comments at last.

"Oh?"

"Dana, can you put the book down?" She raises her eyes to him, brows arched. 

"I'm listening," she says with a sigh, "but I think I already have a pretty good idea of what you're going to say."

"Tom says your new partner's nickname is 'Spooky' Mulder," Ethan says.

"I though _I_ told you that, when I got the assignment," says Scully.

"You didn't tell me your colleagues have started calling _you_ 'Mrs. Spooky,'" he says. Scully rolls her eyes.

"Why would I?" she asks. "It's stupid and juvenile. Mulder ignores his nickname, and I ignore mine. We're not going to stoop to their level."

"Dana, they're implying there's something going on between you," argues Ethan. "Doesn't that bother you?"

"No, but it's clearly upsetting _you_ ," she says. "Did Tom happen to tell you who started calling me that, Ethan?"

"No, but I don't see how that's important."

" _He_ did, Ethan. Tom did. The nickname started with him, and it started because he couldn't handle the fact that Mulder and I solved the case he was working on. Mulder saw connections that Tom dismissed, I backed Mulder up, and we solved the case right under Tom's nose. It made him look bad, and he lashed out by trying to make _us_ look bad."

"What about what it looks like to me, Dana?" asks Ethan. "You're hardly home these days. When you _are_ here, you're preoccupied. You blew off dinner out with me this week _and_ last week. The guy calls here all hours of the night, and you get out of bed to talk to him, no matter how late it is. Hell, three nights ago, you actually _pushed me off of you_ to answer the phone. What am I supposed to think?"

"That my job is important to me, Ethan," Scully says coldly. "And that unlike yours, my job isn't confined to nine o'clock to five o'clock, Monday through Friday." Ethan continues to glower, and Scully tries a gentler tack. "Ethan, we've been through this before," she says, her voice softer. "You promised you would be supportive when I have to work long hours. Aren't I supportive of you, when you're preparing for a trial, and you're busy for weeks at a time?" Ethan at least has the good grace to look guilty at this. "Can't you see that Tom's just trying to start trouble? He's mad that Mulder and I made him look like an idiot. He's tried ridiculing us at work, and it hasn't gotten the response he wanted, so now he's trying to make trouble for me at home." Scully reaches out and takes Ethan's hand. "Don't you trust me?" Ethan hangs his head and twines his fingers between hers.

"I do," he sighs. "And I'm sorry. I'm being an idiot." He scoots closer on the couch and puts his arms around Scully. She relaxes into his embrace, pressing her face into his neck. "I just miss you when you're gone so much. I know it's stupid... but I'm jealous that Mulder gets to spend so much time with you." She laughs into his shoulder.

"Maybe you should join the FBI," she suggests, and he chuckles.

"How about we settle for rescheduling the date night we missed this week?" he says. "Thursday night?"

"I've got my godson's birthday party Thursday," Scully says. "Let's do Friday night instead." She pulls back and cradles Ethan's face in her hands. "And this time, I promise not to cancel." 

 

\-----------

 

Mulder knows he should feel guilty, and he's trying to. He really is. He dragged Scully off on this case, he made her drive all the way back to DC on her own (in rush-hour traffic, no less), and he paged her when he knew full well she was out on a date with Ethan- a date that had already been rescheduled twice, both times because Scully had been in the field with him. He knows he should feel like an absolute and total son of a bitch that Scully and her boyfriend are once again on the rocks... or, at the very least, definitely headed for them.

But try as he might, as he climbs back into the car with Scully across from him, wearing the most ridiculous red and black plaid blazer he's ever seen (seriously, where does she find these things? She looks like she had her father's hunting jacket turned into professional wear), he can't muster a single ounce of the guilt he knows he should be feeling. They've just spent a fascinating two hours at the Smithsonian- two hours that Scully could have been spending with her boyfriend, if she hadn't blown him off on the phone- and he fully expects her to ask him to drop her at home, now that she's cooled off and is ready to deal with Ethan. But instead, she turns to him and smiles.

"I'm starving," she says. "Want to grab some dinner?" Mulder grins back. Even with the terrible blazer, she's undeniably adorable, and her smiles never fail to tug at something inside of him.

"Sounds great," he says.

Sure, Mulder feels like a son of a bitch- the luckiest son of a bitch in the world.


End file.
